1965 Replay Update: May 9, 1965

(Note: I wrote this a week ago, but we had freezing rain and two snow "events" that kept me housebound and unable to drive to the nearby Marriott parking lot to use their wi-fi to send this. So, I've played a lot more games in the replay since writing, but at least readers can get an idea of how the season is going)

I haven’t done an update for the 1965 APBA baseball replay I’ve been involved in with the past two months, so now, as I reach games for May 10, 1965, it’s time for one.

A couple of surprises that jumped out early were that both the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two teams that made it to the World Series that year, aren’t faring that well so far. The Twins began well, beating the less-than-stellar New York Yankees and Cleveland  in two-game series each. But then they were swept in a three-game set at Detroit and swept in four games in Chicago. Unless something major happens, I don’t see the Twins winning 102 games like they did in the real season.

The Dodgers are also questionable. There’s not much batting in Los Angeles. Wes Parker leads the team with four home runs. The pitching’s not so hot either. Despite his league-leading 67 strikeouts and A(XY) rating, Sandy Koufax is only 2-2 on the mound, and Don Drysdale, the number two starter, is 1-4. Of the 11 games the Dodgers have lost so far, the most runs the team scored in those games was four, in a 5-4 loss to San Francisco.

Another oddity is the Chicago Cubs. They opened the season with a 2-10 record and looked like they’d compete with the New York Mets as the worst team. But then, the Cubs reeled off eight wins in a row, then lost one and won four more game in a row until Houston bested them, 5-0, in the second game of a May 9 doubleheader.

Cub’s outfielder Billy Williams is a candidate for the National League MVP over the first month, batting .390 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs. Ernie Banks is batting .327 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs. Catcher Ed Bailey has six homers for the Cubs; in the real season, Bailey had five home runs. (Note: as is my custom, I’m not keeping full stats and instead just compiled these by hand to see how the Cubs’ stars compared,)

Frank Howard leads baseball with 12 home runs and, in another over-producing effort, Royal’s first baseman Ken Harrelson already has nine dingers.

Here are the standings as of games played through May 9, 1965:

American League

Chicago           16        7          --

Detroit            16        8          0.5

Minnesota      13         10        3

Washington    14        13         4

Boston              11         11         4.5

Kansas City    11         13         5.5

Cleveland       10        12         5.5

Baltimore       10        14        6.5

California        9         15         7.5

New York        9         16        8

National League

 St. Louis         18        6          --

Pittsburgh       15         10        3.5

Philadelphia   14        9          3.5

Chicago           14        12         5.5

Los Angeles    12         11         5.5

Cincinnati       12         12         6

San Francisco  11         13         7

Milwaukee      10        13         7.5

Houston          11         14        7.5

New York        4          21         14.5

 

Things are bound to change in May. The Twins will play their next 14 games against California and Kansas City, splitting home-and-home series before heading to Boston, Washington and Baltimore to end the month. Minnesota ought to pick up some ground playing those weaker teams.

The Dodgers will host Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati  with a six-game road trip to Houston and Chicago in between the home stands.

I’m on a four-game-a-day pace, which is pretty decent for me.  The games of 1965 seem quicker than my previous replay of 1947. There are fewer hits and more strikeouts, which hasten the game. Scores come on big hits at opportune times –look at Washington’s won-loss record with Howard swinging the bat.

There are always things to watch for in a replay. In this case, will the Twins and Dodgers improve? Will the Cubs continue to play streaky? Will Howard hit 61 or more home runs? Will Koufax get runs needed to better his won-loss record?

We roll the games to see how these things turn out.

 

The APBA Cat

I didn’t know I had a real APBA cat until my wife found the red game dice I thought I lost a week earlier in a pretty peculiar place.

There were some hints before that our cat was an APBA cat– a pen was missing from the desk where I play the game, cards seemed a bit scattered if I left a game momentarily and the chair I sit in was swiveled in a different direction a few times than I left it. But our cat, Squeaky, a two-year-old knucklehead, didn’t seem all that interested in the game and only came in when I played to seek food.

I had an APBA cat before. May, a small torbe cat who died in 2015, often sat on the desk where I rolled the games and watched. Once, a red dice was missing. I thought May knocked it off the desk, but I never found it. For the most part, she just watched the games. In her honor, I use her as my picture on the Goodreads book rating website; she’s posing by an APBA baseball card of Milt May that I’m holding in front of her. She doesn’t look like she’s a big fan of her namesake, though.

Holly and I got Squeaky from the local PetSmart store. We had two other cats and a dog when we got together, but sadly, they passed away within a year of each other. I was leery of getting another pet. The loss hurt each time and I didn’t want to go through that again.

But then, in June 2019, there we were in PetSmart, looking in the kennels at several cats. We almost got an orange one, but we spotted Squeaky looking sad and lonely in a small kennel by himself. He seemed shy and reserved and quiet. We were wrong in our assessment of the cat.

He had another name at the store, but we changed it to “Squeaky” when we heard him meow. At times it’s a high-pitched squeak. When I pick him up he often squeaks like someone is letting air out of a balloon. Fortunately, the noise is coming from his front end. I fear cat emissions. Once, May dropped a Friskies fart while sitting on a stand where my CPAP breathing machine is located. The scent entered the machine and I woke up thinking either the house was on fire or the sewer plant exploded upwind.

There’s never been any cat gastrophies with Squeaky, but he is an attention-seeker when he wants something. He will get on a windowsill and try to reach and swat things off the nearby fireplace mantle. Or he’ll jump on the ledge of the television cabinet and paw at either the sides or the television. Either way, it drives me nuts and I have to get up and make him get down.

He either wants more food, cat treats, to play with his bird toy or to go outside on his leash and visit the feral c at who lives in the garage. He wants one of those things often. I didn’t know he’d resort to dice-stealing to get his way.

 I usually close the door leading to the spare bedroom where the APBA game is played. But on occasion, I’ll leave it open if I’m trekking to the kitchen for a drink or to momentarily catch something on television.

One of those times must have been when he made off with the dice.

The APBA game uses two dice – a tiny white dice and a slightly larger red dice. Players roll them and use the results to find various actions on players’ cards. All APBA players have scores of the dice around. I’ve got three sets on a lamp by the game table and for some reason, there’s a pair on the bedroom dresser.

When I looked for the red dice, left on a mouse pad I use to roll, it
was gone. I searched on the table and under the desk. Sometimes when I roll, one of the dice tumbles off the mat and desk and hides under things like the laptop computer, APBA notebooks and the other games I keep there.

This time, I couldn’t find it and after a futile hunt, I gave up and used another pair of dice.

It wasn’t until a Thursday, the Litter Box Cleaning Day because our trash runs on Fridays, when Holly found the dice. The larger red dice was under a small white rug leading to the covered cat’s litter box.

Somehow, in the short time I was away from the opened room, Squeaky knocked it off the table and either carried it or batted it down a hallway and to his box. The rug wasn’t tussled, either. It as if Squeaky folded the rug back, placed his find under it and then smoothed it out. Holly picked up the rug only to shake any extra cat litter Squeaky dragged out of the box. And there it was.

 There were hints of his ways. Holly found a tube of lip gloss and some fingernail polish that was left atop the living room coffee table inside Squeaky’s box of toys. He’s also taken a couple of her stuffed animal toys left on shelves and carried them to his hiding spot under the dining room table.

There are scores of APBA players who do have APBA cats. Once, after May passed away, I posted about my loss on the APBA group’s Facebook page. Within minutes, people began posting their pictures of cats sitting beside APBA game.

Now if I leave the APBA room, I’ll either shut the door or place the dice where I know he won’t them. It’s part of what you do when you have an APBA cat.